Continuous strip pickling and cleaning device



Dec. 8, 1942. F. J. WOO D I 2,304,432

commuous STRIP PICKLING AND CLEANING DEVICE Filed June 9, 1941 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 33m W v i I. INVENTUR Wait 00d ATTORNEY F. J. WOOD Dec. 8, 1942.

CONTINUOUS STRIP PICKLING AND CLEANING DEVICE Filed June 9, 1941 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 lTLiIZZZIIIfI.

ILmIVI I INVNTOR W cf Wood M. M Arranuzr Dec. 8, 1942. F. J. wooD 2,304,432

CONTINUOUS STRIP PICKLING AND CLEANING DEVICE Filed June 9, 1941 4 Sheefis-Sheet .5

93 3.1 75 Ey' a2 30 O C) I| ;f k J v |\r 1 l g l INVENTOR ji /1x: J 2 000 ATTOR NEY Dec. 8, 1942. F. J. wooD 2,304,432

CONTINUOUS STRIP PICKLING AND CLEANING DEVICE Filed June 9, 1941 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 I vl I 1 cu I I I 36 mvsuron I I 37 cf h/ooo ATTOR NET Patented Dec. 8, 1942 CONTINUOUS STRIP PICKLING AND C G DEVICE Frank J.- Wood, Riverside, 111., asslgnor to Good- Comna y, C a

man Manufacturing corporation of lllinol Application June 9, 194.1, Serial No. 397,219

7 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in pickling and cleaning devices and has as its principal objects to provide a novel form of pickling and cleaning device arranged to handle either heavy or light gauge metal.

Another object of my invention is to provide a pickling and cleaning device so arranged that relatively heavy gauge metal may be pushed through the pickling and cleaning system, during' the cleaning operation, or'light gauge metalmay be pulled through tem, during the cleaning operation.

A more specific object of my invention is to provide a pickling and'cleaning device of the class described which includes a novel form and arrangement of a drive to the pinch or squeegee rolls, so arranged that said rolls will push havy gauge metal through-the system and will freely rotate with respect to their drive members when light gauge metal is being pulled through the system.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a new and improved form of pickling and cleaning device, so arranged that heavy metal, pushed through the system, may thread the light metal through the system, and also so arranged that the guides for the metal during stitching of the adjacent ends of the metal together, for

the pickling and cleaning systhe pull through pickling operation, may also serve to protect the leveler rolls through pickling operation.

. Other objects of my invention will appear from time to time as the following specification proceeds and with referenc to the accompanying drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view in plan of a pickling and cleaning apparatus constructed in accordance with my invention; 1

Figure 2 is an enlarged partial fragmentary view in side elevation of the stitcher employed in the pickling system, illustrating certain details thereof; v

Figure 3 is an enlarged partial fragmentary view in side elevation of the leveler, when positioned for flattening the heavy metal as it is being pushed through the'system; a

Figure 4 is a view insideelevation, drawn to a somewhat smaller scale than Figure 3, with illustrating the stitcher during the stitching operation and the positionof the leveler rolls at the start of the pull through pickling operation;

Figure 5 is a view somewhat similar to Figure 3, but drawn to a reduced scale, and showing the during the pull tecting the leveler rolls dur pickling operation;

Figure 6 isa view in sideelevation of. the brush-- ing and scrubbing unit;

' Figure 7 is a transverse sectional view taken through the squeegee rolls of the brushing and scrubbing unit;

Figure 8 is an enlarged partial fragmentary transverse sectional. view taken through the squeegee rolls, showing certain details of the drive to one of the lower squeegee rolls;

Figure 9 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the squeegee rolls in side elevation, with certain parts shown in longitudinal section, in order to illustrate certain details the squeegee rolls; and

Figure 10 is a fragmentary view in side elevation, somewhat similar to Figure 9, but showing the drive member to the lower squeegee roll as being freely rotatable with respect to its driving member during the pull through, pickling operation.

In the embodiment of my invention illustrated in the drawings, Figure 1 diagrammatically shows a pickling and cleaning device which includes a a coil supporting or sticking box II at the entering end of the apparatus and having a coil of strip metal mounted therein and adapted to be trained through the pickling and cleaning apparatus. A

stitcher i2 is disposed in advance of said coil supporting. box and is mounted for movement into position to attach adjacent ends of the metal together, by riveting one strip of metal to the other, so one coil of metal may pull the next succeeding coil of metal through the system.

A leveler I3 is disposed in advance of the stitcher 10, for flattening and breaking the scale on heavy gauge metal. Said leveler may be of a usual construction, and as herein shown consists of a pair of opposed vertically spaced advance power driven pinch rolls M', ll, for pushing heavy gauge metal through the pickling and cleaning apparatus, a pair of vertically spaced guides I5, l5 disposed in advance of said pinch rolls, a pluleveling rolls ll, l1, and a pair of power driven certain parts showing a longitudinal section and stitcher guides in position in the leveler, for prolongitudinally spaced upper leveling rolls l8, l8,

disposed above and between said lower rolls and adapted to engage the metal with said lower rolls and flatten it. A' pair of vertically spaced guides ill, 20 are disposed at the discharge end of said leveler, to prevent vertical displacement of the metal and to guide it into squeegee rolls 2|, 2| at the entering end of apickling trough 23.

'I'hesqueegee rolls 2], II, as herein shown, are

g the pull through of the drive to one of of a blocking coiler 34.

made from rubber, for yieldably engaging opposite sides of the metal and pushing it through the system (see Figure 3) and for preventing pickling fluid from flowing backwardly along the metal into the guides 20, 28 of the leveler I3. Said lower squeegee roll 2| is power driven, in a manner which will more clearly appear as this specification proceeds, and said upper roll is yieldably urged into engagement with said lower roll. From said squeegee rolls the metal passes through the pickling trough 23 which extends along and is disposed above a pickling tank 24. Pickling fluid is circulated in said pickling trough in a usual manner and excess fluid is discharged from opposite ends of said trough into said picklinig tank, from which it may be recirculated through the system.

From the pickling trough 23, the metal passes through a brushing and scrubbing stand 25, which includes squeegee rolls 26, 26 similanto the pinch rolls 2|, 2|, brushing and scrubbing rolls 2'1 and 28 and squeegee rolls 2!], 29. The strip metal then passes through a steam bath and hot Water tank generally indicated by reference character 30, through squeegee rolls 3|, 3| similar to the pinch rolls 2|, 2| 32. From said drying table heavy gauge metal is coiled on an open coiler 33 while light gauge metal may be pulled through the system by means pickling and cleaning trough and tank, steam and hot water bath, drying table, and coilers are no part of my present invention so are only herein shown and described insofar as is necessary to make my present invention readily understandable.

The stitcher |2 may be of any usual construction and includes a carriage 35 mounted on transversely extending spaced tracks 36, 36, for transverse slidable movement with respect to the strip of metal, to permit stitching jaws 31 and 38 to fasten adjacent ends of the strip metal together by riveting, so that one coil of metal may pull the next succeeding coil of metal through the system, during the pull through pickling operation.

During the stitching operation, the metal is adapted to pass through spaced apart guides 48 and 4|, to hold the-metal in place. The guide 48 includes a pair of vertically spaced plates 42, 42, secured at their ends to opposite sides of laterally spaced longitudinally extending bars 43, 43 (see Figure 2). The guide 4| includes a pair of vertically spaced plates 44, 44, secured at their ends to opposite sides of the bars 43, 43 and spaced in advance of the plates 42, 42. The stitching operation is efiected by the jaws 31 and 88 in the space between said pairs of plates 42, 42 and 44, 44. The lower plate 44 rests on a rearwardly projecting table portion 45 of a frame 46 for the leveler l3. I'he upper plate 42 is mounted on apart of the framework for the coil supporting box In by means of a rod 41. Said rod passes through the up-turned hook-shaped ends of a pair of spaced apart members 48', 48, mounted on the top of the upper plate 42, and thus holds-said guide plates 42,42 and 44, 44 in position on said stitcher. Said rod is detachably mounted at its ends in bracket members 49, 49, projecting upwardly from said coil supporting box. After the stitching operation, the rod 41 is removed and the upper'rolls' I4 and |8, |8 of the leveler l3 are raised above the lower rolls, to permit said guides to be placed between said. rolls so that thin'gauge metal may be pulled through and bver a drying table Said stitcher, leveler, Y

with said lower rolls.

' provided with a yieldable face which may be bottom pinch rolls |4 and the leveler rolls l1, H

are mounted in the frame 46 and are driven by power from a motor 50, through line shaft 5| (see Figure 1) and a suitable geared reduction drive, which will not herein be shown or described, since it is no part of my present invention;

The upper pinch rolls 54 are yieldably engaged Said upper pinch rolls and the leveler rolls |8, H! are driven from the motor 50 and line shaft 5| through a suitable drive. Said last mentioned pinch and leveler rolls are vertically adjustable, to adjust said pinch rolls and the rolls of saidleveler for different gauges of metal, and to permit the insertion of the guides 40 and 4| between said rolls during the pull through operation.

The upper pinch roll i4 is mounted at its opposite ends in bearing boxes 52, 52, guided for vertical movement in the frame '45. A threaded rod 53 projects upwardly from each of said bearing boxes and is slidably guided in a. sleeve 54, threaded within a boss 55 of a cap piece 56, which is secured to said frame. A compression spring 51 encircles each rod 53 and is interposed between the upper side of the bearing box 52 and the underside of the threaded sleeve 54, for yieldably engaging said upper roll with said lower roll. Nuts 58, 58 are provided on the upper ends of the rods 53, 53, to vertically move the upper rolls out of engagement with the lower ro s. r

The upper leveling rolls |8, |8 are journaled in a frame member 60, which is guidedin the frame 46 for vertical movement with respect thereto. Said frame member, as herein shown, is slidably mounted at its forward and rear ends on two pairs of longitudinally spaced vertical shafts 6|, 6|. Compression springs 64, 64 are seated in the frame 45 and in said upper frame member and encircle said vertical shafts. Said springs serve to move said upper frame member away from said lower frame member. Worm gears 65, 65, threaded on the lower ends of said vertical shafts are engaged with and driven from worms 66, 66, on transverse shafts 61, 61, for vertically moving said shafts with respect to the frame 46, to adjust the spacing between said upper and lower rolls and to permit said" springs per and lower rolls of the leveler may readily.

be adjusted and the upper rolls' may be moved completely out of engagement with the lower rolls, to permit the guides 40 and 4| to be p0si-' tioned therebetween.

With reference now in particular to the pinch rolls 2|, 2|, 26, 26, and 29 29 and the novel form of drive thereto, said rolls'are all of a similar con struction and aredriven in the same manner, so

one set of said rolls only need herein be shown or described. For illustrative purposes the brushing and scrubbing stand 25 is shown in detail and the rolls 29,- 29, at the discharge end of said stand will bedescribed. Said last mentioned rolls are enclosed in a housing 15, herein shown as beinglmade from sheet metal and also covering the brushing and, scrubbing rolls.

The support for said squeegee rolls, as herein shown, includes two pairs of laterally spaced vertical parallel rods 11, 11. Said rods are connected together at their upper ends by a frame mem-. ber 18 and are mounted at their lower ends on a frame 19 for said brushing and scrubbing stand. Lower bearing boxes 80 and BI are mounted on and secured to said rods and form bearing supports for the lower squeegee roll 29. Upper bearing boxes 82, 82 are slidably mounted on said rods and form bearing supports for the held in spaced relation with respect to each other by means of springs 83, 83, seated'in spring seats 84 and85 in respective of said boxes,

The upper pinch roll 29 is moved into en gagement with the upper side of the metal, for positively engaging the metal with the lower pinch roll by means of threaded shafts 81, 81, threaded in frame members 18, 18. A spring seat 88 is provided on the lower 'end of each threaded shaft 91 and a spring 89 is interposed between said seat and the upper side of the bearing box 82. Said shafts are rotatably driven by helical gears 90, 90 secured to the upper ends thereof and meshing with and driven from helical gears 9|, 9| on a transverse shaft 92. Said transverse shaft is rotated by means of a hand wheel 93.

The drive to the lower of said pinch rolls includes a driving member 94, journaled in an end frame member 95, mounted in an outwardly projecting housing portion 96 of the lower bearing box 8| (see Figure '7). Said driving member is driven from the motor 50 and shaft by means of a usual form of variable speed drive and geared reduction drive, which are not herein shown or described in detail since they are no part of my present invention. The driving member 94 extends inwardly of and encircles a ratchet wheel 91, 'keyed to the transversely extending shaft 98 (see Figure 8). Said shaft is journaled in the bearing box 8|, on ball bearings 99, 99.

Said shaft is disposed coaxially with the lower roller 29 and forms a support for one end of said roller and also forms a means for driving said roller through jaws I90, Hill. v A spring pressed pawl |9| is mounted in an annular portion |02of the driving member 94 and is adapted to engage the teeth of the ratchet wheel 91, for driving said ratchet wheel, upon rotation of said driving member.

Thuslwhe'n the driving member 94 is driven in a direction, which in Figure 9 is shown as being a counterclockwise direction, said driving member will positively drive the lower squeegee roll 29 through the ratchet wheel 91 and transverse shaft 98, to push heavy gauge metal through the pickling and cleaning device. When, however, thin gauge metal is pulled between said squeegee rolls, through the pickling and cleaning device,

said lower squeegee rolls and the ratchet wheel 91 are free t rotate in a counterclockwise direction with respect to said drive member. During the pull through operation, said squeegee rolls may thus serve to remove moisture or excess pickling fiuid from themetal, but perform no conveying function.

' When it is desired to change from the pickling of heavyto light gauge metal, the tail end ure 2, to permit the heavy gauge metal to thread upper squeegeeroll 29. Said bearing boxes are the light gauge metal through the pickling and cleaning device and thus eliminate threading of the metal through the device by hand,

In this operation, the advance end of the light 9 metal is cut from the trailing end of the heavy metal, as it reache the block coiler 34. The light metal is then secured to the block of said coiler and coiled thereon and pulled through the system by means of said coiler. As soon as the stitching operation between the light and the heavy metal has beencompleted, however, the rolls l4 and I8 of the leveler are raised and the guides and 4| are moved forwardly betweensaid rolls in the hereinbefore described manner, to prevent the light metal from scratching the rolls of said leveler.

When the light metal has been attached to the'block of the block coiler 34, the motor 59, which drives the pinch rolls l4, I4 and the squeegee rolls 2|, 26, 29 and 3|, is turned off and a motor I03 which serves to drive the coiler 34, is turnedon, to cause said coiler to positively pull the light metal through the system.

At this time, the lower squeegee rolls 2|, 26, 29 and 3| are free to rotate with respect to their respective driving members 99, 94,so they will not buckle the metal, but will squeegee excess moisture from the metal and permit the metal .to be freely pulled through the pickling and cleaning system by means of said coiler.

While I have herein shown and described one form in which'my invention may be embodied, it will be understood that the construction thereof and the arrangement of the various parts may be altered without departing fromthe spirit and scope thereof. Furthermore, I do not wish to be construed as limiting my invention to the specific embodiment illustrated, excepting as it may be limited to the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A push-through pull-through pickling and cleaning device selectively. operable for cleaning light and heavy gauge strip metal including a pickling trough, a pair-of vertically spaced squeegee rolls at the entering end of said trough, for pushing heavy gauge strip metal through said trough, a coiler adjacent the discharge end of said trough, for pulling light gauge strip metal through said trough, and an overriding clutch for driving one of said rolls and arranged to permit free rotation thereof, when said coiler is pulling the metal through said pickling trough.

2. A push-through pull-through pickling and cleaning device selectively operable for cleaning light and heavy gauge strip metal including a pickling trough through which the metal is adapted to pass during the pickling operation, a coiler spaced longitudinally from the discharge end of said trough for pulling thin metal through said trough, squeegee rolls at the entering end of said trough, for pushing heavy metal through said trough, mechanism for securing adjacent ends of the metal together, for permitting said coiler to pull a succession of joined strips of thin metal through said trough, said mechanismbeing adapted to join a light piece of metal to a heavy piece of metal so said heavy piece of metal maythread said light piece of metal through the mit free rotation of said rolls, when thin metal is being pulled through said system by said coiler.

3. A push-through pull-through pickling and cleaning device selectively operable for cleaning light and heavy gauge strip metal including a leveler including a plurality of horizontally and vertically spaced rollers for reversely bending the metal before entering said pickling trough, a pickling and cleaning trough, through which the metal is adapted to pass during the pickling operation, spaced in advance of said leveler,

- squeegee rolls at the entering and discharge ends of said trough, for pushing heavy auge metal through the pickling and cleaning device, a coiler spaced in advance of said pickling trough for pulling light gauge metal through the pickling and cleaning device; a stitcher, for stitching adjacent ends of the light gauge metal together, said stitcher being adapted to stitch the leading end of a light strip of metal to the trailing end of a heavy strip of metal, so said heavy metal may train said light metalthrough said pickling and cleaning trough; said upper rolls of said leveler being movable vertically with respect to said lower rolls, to render said leveler inoperative when metal is being pulled through said pickling and cleaning trough, and means for driving said squeegee rolls in such a manner as to permit free rotation thereof with respect to said driving means when metal is being pulled through the pickling and cleaning device.

4. A push-through pull-through pickling and cleaning device selectively operable for cleaning light and heavy gauge strip metal including a leveler including a plurality of horizontally and vertically spaced rollers adapted to engage opposite sides of the metal, a pickling and cleaning trough, through which themetal is adapted to pass during the pickling operation, disposed in advance of said leveler, squeegee rolls at the entering and discharge ends of. said trough, for

pushing heavy gauge metal through the pickling and cleaning device, a coiler spaced in advance of said pickling trough for pulling light gauge pickling and cleaning trough through which'the metal is adapted to pass during the pickling operation, spaced in advance of said leveler, squeegee rolls at the entering and-discharge ends of said trough, for pushing heavy gauge metal through the pickling and cleaning device, means for driving said squeegee rolls in such a manneras to permit free rotation thereof with respect to said driving means, and a coiler spaced in strip of metal to the trailing end of a heavy strip of metal, so said heavy metal may train said light metal through said pickling and cleaning trough, guides associated with said stitcher and adapted to have the metal pass therethrough during the stitching operation, and said upper rolls of said leveler being movable vertically with respect to said lower rolls, to receive said guides ing end of a heavy strip of metal so said heavy metal may thread said light metal through said pickling trough, guides associated with said stitcher, through which the metal is adapted to pass, and said upper rolls of said leveler beingtherebetween when metalis being pulled through I said pickling and cleaning trough.

6. A push-through pull-through pickling and cleaning device selectively operable for cleaning light and heavy gauge strip metal including a pickling trough through which the metal is adapted to pass during the pickling operation, means for propelling heavy gauge metal through said trough and squeezing excess pickling fluid there from, including squeegee rolls at the entering and discharge ends of said trough and a power driven drive connection for driving one of said rolls of each set of said squeegee rolls, means for pulling hght gauge strip metal through said pickling trough, and means in said drive to said squeegee rolls to permit said light gauge metal to freely rotate said squeegee rolls as it is being pulled through said trough, so said rolls will perform their squeegee function but will place no drag on said light gauge metal.

'7.-A push-through pull-through pickling and cleaning device selectively operable for cleaning light and heavy gauge strip metal including a pickling trough through which the metal is adapted to pass during the pickling operation, means for propelling heavy gauge metal through said trough and squeezing excess pickling fluid therefrom, including squeegee rolls at the entering and discharge ends of said trough and a power driven drive connection for driving one of said rolls of each set of said squeegee rolls, means for pulling light gauge str-ip metal through said pickling trough, and an overriding clutch in the drive to the squeegeeroll of each set of squeegee rolls, for permitting said light gauge metal to freely rotate said squeegee rolls as it is being pulled through said pickling and cleaning trough, so said rolls will perform their squeegee function but will place no drag on said light gauge metal.

FRANK J. woon. 

